Good read. GLTA!GOLQUEST says in eight years of Romero mine operation in SJM more than RD$21 billion will be invested The day October 23, 2022 ECONOMIC If executed, the Romero project would be the first underground mine in the country. Santo Domingo.- The president of the Canadian company GOLDQUEST, which has the rights to exploit the mineral deposit discovered in the community of Romero in San Juan de la Maguana, assured that, if the mine were to be exploited, during the eight years of operation, 400 million dollars will be invested in said province, which, calculated at the current rate, exceeds RD$21.2 billion. Luis Santana Pereyra, who is a native of Azua, explained that in the aforementioned period about four thousand jobs would be generated in the Granero del Sur. Santana Pereyra said that, if they receive the license for the environmental impact study, the construction process and the development of the mine will immediately begin, and in that scenario they would be hiring a thousand direct jobs for a period of two years. Interviewed on the D'Agenda program, the executive director of said company said that at that stage there will be a capital investment of US$310 million that would enter San Juan with equipment, machinery and companies. He added that there will be hiring of companies with many resources, which would create dynamism and would translate into an impact on hotels, freight and passenger transport, in short, a number of chain activities during the construction stage that would be similar to the movement that takes place generated when the Palomino dam was built. In the economic part, during the eight-year operation, we would be investing US$400 million, more than 21,200 million pesos, that is, about 50 million dollars a year that would enter the economy of San Juan, as salary, purchase of fuels, and different supplies and activities that also have a direct impact on the economic movement of the province, permanently, insisted the mining executive. He stressed that, with the construction stage completed in two years, "we entered the operation stage, at that stage we are talking about an impact on jobs of three thousand employees between direct and indirect, and the largest proportion have to be from the province or of the area. Santana indicated that during the development stage they are going to create a development and training center in San Juan to train operators, mechanics, electrical, and in the different discipline that are going to intervene in the operation stage of the plant, and They have already talked with a university, and they plan to do the same with others to form said center and train the technicians who are going to operate in the mine. But also, during the division of the benefits, we have only evaluated eight years, although the project has the potential to continue growing over time, and we are talking about paying taxes to the Dominican State for US$465 million, and of that the project considers that 100 million dollars would go directly to San Juan as a result of the 5% of the Environmental Law, plus 8 percent that the company voluntarily agreed to, with the condition that it be invested in the development of said province , he highlighted. He recalled that those 100 million dollars represent 5,400 million pesos, where San Juan would have its own resources to be able to support the development plan that is currently being created, and the central government would not have to be asked for it. In another order, he explains that the mining deposit is polymetallic because it has four metals that are gold, silver, copper and zinc. He pointed out that the company has only explored the Romero zone up to elevation 450, however, it understands that below it there is more mineral potential, which could increase the life of the project beyond the eight years that are planned. He highlighted the importance of the development of said project in the economic impact of San Juan de la Maguana, a province with a poverty level of 64%, which doubles mining provinces such as Monseor Nouel and Snchez Ramrez. Santana, a native professional from Azua who has directed mining projects on several continents, says that as an Azuaan and, above all, a Dominican, he would never get involved in directing the Romero exploitation project if said work caused damage to the province of San Juan de la Maguana. In front of your public, the country, and in front of God, if it were not so, I would not be sitting here doing that, I believe one hundred percent in the proposal that the company has to develop that mine, I am convinced that this operation instead of representing a threat to the valley, to the subsistence of San Juan, it represents a real opportunity, and one of my main motivations for being here, and for taking charge of this project, is because I understand that it will serve the development and blessing not only for San Juan but for the entire region, he assured. The president of mining company GOLDQUEST added that his home province of Azua will benefit from the project. If it were not like that, there are many people who know me, I have a professional career, here and abroad, if I did not feel that what I am doing serves a greater good, for something that will benefit, not only me , my family and my company, if it is not going to benefit society in general, I would not be doing it, he insisted. He argued that, "I invite, and I say every time I have the opportunity to go to San Juan, is that we should sit down, as Dominicans first, because I am Dominican, before being Azua I am Dominican, and I have a position of importance in an organization, my invitation is that we sit down, discuss and get to know the project, and see together how we could get the maximum possible benefit from that project. But getting the maximum possible benefit from the project does not mean that we are going to destroy what is there, doing things right, as Dominican laws say, and as international standards say, but that the resource that we are going to take advantage of serves to develop our region , insisted the engineer Santana. He explained that the technology that currently exists allows the extraction of riches from the subsoil without having to damage the area where the project is being carried out. Another argument he put forward is that the company he presides over is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and for this it has to comply with several standards, one of which is caring for the environment. Posted this FYI. GLTA!